Building wealth through homeownership: credit unions’ role in housing

HousingWire

In this episode of Ten Minute Talks recorded live at ACUMA in Denver, HousingWire’s VP of Events and Community, Brena Nath sits down with Alyssa Sykes Tullock, executive Vice President and COO at AmeriCU Credit Union. The two explore the evolving role of credit unions in the housing industry. Alyssa reflects on her two-decade career and how credit unions’ cooperative approach continues to set them apart by prioritizing people over profit.   The conversation unpacks why mortgages are a cornerstone of credit union strategy, how realtors can benefit from partnering with credit unions, and why collaboration is critical for the future of housing. With ACUMA attendance at record highs, Alyssa points to a growing movement focused on helping more members achieve the dream of homeownership.   #CreditUnions #MortgageIndustry #ACUMA #FinancialWellbeing

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Brenna Nath, Vice President of Community Events at Housing Wire. I'm excited to be at

00:12ACUMA in Denver. The theme of the conference is Make Your Mark, and couldn't be a better theme

00:18for who I'm here with. I'm joined by Alyssa Tulloch. She's Executive Vice President and COO

00:23at AmeriQ Credit Union, getting that one right, and just here to talk about what's happening at

00:30the conference, what she's seeing in the space. So just to start off, thank you for joining me.

00:35Thank you for having me. I'm very excited. Some of the foundational elements I think is key to

00:39this conversation is talking a little bit about yourself, you know, your journey into the space,

00:43how you got involved with ACUMA. Can you give a little bit of your backstory? Yeah, so I have

00:48been in credit unions now for 20 years. I don't know how it's possible, but 20 years ago I worked

00:52at a bank and I got recruited to come over to a credit union. I didn't know what credit unions

00:56were, to be honest with you. I just, I had heard of them and, you know, that I thought you needed to

01:01work someplace. And ultimately what I had learned from a friend, a family friend, that they were

01:07looking for someone to start up a secondary market at a credit union. And, you know, I thought that was

01:12very exciting. And I was kind of in a pivotal moment in my career where working at the bank, I just

01:17wasn't sure if I was aligned from my core values anymore with them, because it was always about

01:21making money and not necessarily about the person. And so I went on my interview at the credit union

01:27and one thing that stuck out right away was the cooperative nature that immediately met me at

01:32the door and their philosophies were very, very different. It was all about member and experience

01:37and making sure that the person that you were lending to was ultimately at the center of the

01:45decision versus how much money you could kind of make off from someone. So I found my way to the

01:50credit union 20 years ago to start up a mortgage department and it was so fun. And I've now built

01:57on that for my entire career ultimately. And I started really as, I think my title was like

02:02secondary market specialist. And ultimately here I am now as an executive vice president running,

02:09you know, a $3 billion organization. So it's been a long road fun, but I've had multiple,

02:16multiple connections through ACIMA. The first time I met someone that came in and it was a vendor and

02:21they said, Oh, do you know about ACIMA? It was 20 years ago. And I was like, no, I have no idea what

02:25this is. They said, well, they're having an annual conference in too much. You have to go. And so there

02:30I was, I went and I was blown away when I walked into that first conference and how welcoming every

02:36single person was. You didn't get that when you worked at a bank, when you went to a conference,

02:39it was more about competitive nature. Um, and here everyone was like openly sharing on what you,

02:46you know, needed to do to be successful in this industry. And I was just, I was roped in from

02:51that moment and I haven't missed one since. I'll always take the opportunity to know when someone

02:55has fun and mortgages together. Cause it is true. You can see the energy that you have for this space

02:59and there's so much potential for growing this space. And you're seeing that growth in ACIMA right

03:05now. Like they're having this event itself has record, I'm pretty sure setting attendance.

03:10Yeah. There's almost 700 people here. That's huge. And I think when I first came 20 years ago,

03:14there was maybe a hundred, right? So, uh, sustain, you know, just over time, it's been a wonderful,

03:20um, to be part of it and to see the growth and see how important they are in this space that we work.

03:26What would you attribute some of that growth to? There's been a lot of growth at ACIMA. What would you

03:31want people to know about how that is happening? You kind of dove into it kind of naturally in your

03:36last answer. Yeah. It's honestly, that's a cooperativeness. Everyone is here for the same

03:40reason. And it's people helping people ultimately the philosophy of credit unions. And so when you

03:45come into this environment, whether you are a credit union employee or a vendor that supports credit

03:50unions, everyone wants everyone to succeed. And you feel that the moment you walk into any event that

03:56they host and it's all about educating and helping people, you know, prosper, um, whether it's you as

04:02your own career goals, or if it's your members, you're trying to help or your community, you're

04:06trying to help. It's just, it's, it's such an amazing, um, organization to be a part of.

04:12Yeah. Where does mortgage come into play for that? Because not only are we talking about credit

04:17unions, but we're at a mortgage specific kind of arm channel within the credit union space. You guys

04:22offer a lot more, you're in the mortgage side of it. So why is mortgage still such an essential part

04:28of everything that a credit union offers? We just, we see it as a building wealth ultimately,

04:33right? From a credit union perspective overall, we know that if we focus on, um, helping people

04:39obtain home ownership, you like, it just gets that person in a better financial condition and space.

04:46And it also helps your credit union grow because ultimately if somebody is getting a mortgage with

04:50you, they're, they're more likely to get other products and services with you and look at you

04:55as more of a primary FI. I know that's kind of an outdated term. Um, but I can tell you if when

05:00somebody, they trust you, when they come to you for your mortgage, you see every financial aspect

05:04of their life and you're able, as long as you're able to really, um, help them understand what other

05:10products and services will benefit them. When you see their full financial scope, uh, you know,

05:14it's critical to that, to your credit union to make sure that, that you're helping that member

05:19in every aspect of their life. Homeownership is where it starts in my opinion. Um, you,

05:24you really can help them, you know, it's, it's still an American dream. And I think that I love

05:29being part of that at the credit union. And we do look at that as, as a foundational, um, place that

05:34either if someone comes into our credit union for a mortgage, we want to make sure we help them in

05:37every other aspect of their life. Or if they're there, we want to make sure we get them to become a

05:41homeowner. What would you want the realtor to know about this dynamic? We're kind of diving

05:46in with this conversation into the credit unions, the members, a big part of the housing industry

05:53is that realtor relationship. What would you want them to know? I think it's that, that we have

05:57everything that every other financial institution has, right? So they're used to dealing with a

06:01mortgage broker or maybe a bank. Um, and I think sometimes they think credit unions aren't as

06:06sophisticated and have the products and services. And that is the most insanely wrong thing to ever

06:12imagine. Um, you know, they're, they're a full service mortgage departments at almost every

06:17credit union. And if they don't have it, they have a partner that they refer to. And I would tell you

06:21that they will always have your client at their best interest. And it won't, it will be from a

06:26perspective of making sure that they are in the best financial condition to get the home,

06:32but also to maintain and keep the home. And, um, it's, you know, I think it's a different

06:36approach that some realtors aren't necessarily aware of. Um, but I think the most misnome is that,

06:43that credit unions aren't prepared to have the conversation, the right conversations are the

06:48right loan products. And it's just not accurate. That's a great narrative to, to fix and set the

06:54record kind of straight on what, I mean, we're in September right now we're at the Cuma conferences.

06:59We'll probably post a little bit later, but we are no matter what, still looking ahead at 2026 and

07:04beyond. What are some of the takeaways themes that you're noticing in this room or what just has you

07:09excited about the future with whether that's credit unions or Cuma, what's going on in housing?

07:15What, what are you looking forward to ahead? I think my biggest takeaway so far at this event is,

07:20you know, we're, we're kind of at a divide in the country politically. Right. And everyone

07:24is very concerned about what does that mean for housing, um, just in general. And I think what has

07:31like just screamed at me is like, don't, don't get caught in the noise, you know, maintain your,

07:38our approach as credit unions to help the member and help the member grow wealth and become homeowners

07:42with that also is look at ways that we can partner with, um, other institutions or, um,

07:48other housing agencies to help with maybe down payment assistance. If we do see funding cut,

07:53who knows what's going to happen? Um, to me, it's like, if we have, you know, uh, a duty where we

07:59are all about helping people to figure out how can we come together and maybe, you know,

08:06solve for some of these issues that are being more challenged from, um, maybe in a political

08:11environment that, that, that people don't have any control over. Um, you know, I think one speaker

08:15had said to us, you come in where the funding is going to dry up. If you really want to help

08:21put people into homes, maybe you create an independent program amongst multiple credit

08:27unions come together and create down payment assistance programs that you fund. I think

08:31those are the things that to me make me really excited because we can do that. We have the

08:36opportunity to give back in those ways, um, and not have to continuously rely on outside sources.

08:42And I think it's important for us to collectively cooperatively do that.

08:47Yeah. That kind of goes back to what I've been hearing through this interview is when you come

08:50to ACUMA, what I'm noticing with the people here is there's this openness to like,

08:54how can we work together? Even in your answers, like we can come together and help the member

08:59who is, you know, trying to get a home, trying to take that next step in their life. So that's,

09:03I appreciate the exciting board look, appreciate you sitting down with me, um, and hope everyone

09:08stays tuned. Thank you so much.

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